Valletta Cruise Port wants space for new terminal in Grand Harbour plan, CEO says
The Valletta Cruise Port would like to have space to build a new home port terminal included in the Grand Harbour Revival Plan, its CEO, Stephen Xuereb, told The Malta Independent on Sunday.
Xuereb, who aside from being the CEO of the Valletta Cruise Port is also the chief Operations officer of Global Ports Holdings, which operates 32 cruise ports across four continents, spoke to this newsroom about the cruise sector in Malta.
A record number of passengers passed through the Valletta Cruise Port last year – 962,966. There were 385 port calls made by cruise vessels.
The majority port calls in Malta are transit calls, which translates into day-trip tourists, Xuereb says. On average, a cruise ship stays in port in Malta for around 10 hours, he said. “They normally come in at 8am and leave at around 6pm.”
While explaining that the Valletta Cruise Port has a small terminal, he said that the company would like to have space to build a new dedicated home port terminal.
The Valletta Cruise Port is strategically focusing on home porting and fly-cruise operations, Xuereb said. He explained that home port passengers generate incremental value through air connectivity, and pre- and post-cruise hotel stays.
He said that the development of cruise-and-stay packages is important for Malta. These programmes, he continued, encourage passengers to extend their stay before embarkation or after disembarkation, which converts cruise guests into stayover tourists. In destination management terms it enhances the visitor spend per capita, increases average length of stay, and deepens destination immersion, he said.
A home port operation normally runs from 4am to 10pm; however, some cruise ships extend this schedule to include an overnight stay in order to allow guests additional time to board, Xuereb explained.
“What we would like is for the cruise port to have space to construct a new home port terminal, because we are pushing towards increasing our home porting operations. Transit calls bring day-trippers. Home port operations see cruises start and end in Malta, and so bring additional benefits.”
A home port terminal is not something included in the government’s Grand Harbour Revival plan, Xuereb said, but said that it is something the Valletta Cruise Port would like to see included in the project.
He explained that the Valletta Cruise Port has asked for more information about what the government has planned before bringing forward its proposal for such a project.
Asked where it would ideally be placed, Xuereb said: “Our logical expansion for the Cruise Port would be the Deep Water Quay. There’s not really anywhere else you can look at in the port area to have as an adjacent facility. It wouldn’t make sense to split the facility in two in a small island like Malta, so the logical extension is towards the Deep Water Quay. It’s also in line with the government’s vision.”
Regarding the Grand Harbour Revival Plan itself, Xuereb welcomes the public consultation that was launched.
He said that the proposal represents a “long-term and transformative vision for our historic maritime landscape”. It aims to preserve heritage, open up public spaces and integrate mixed-use developments while respecting the harbour’s character, he added. “We view meaningful regeneration as complementary to Valletta Cruise Port’s operations and the wider destination experience.”
Xuereb said that the Valletta Cruise Port and the Waterfront have been catalysts to the revival of the area.
He said that the Valletta Cruise Port is participating in the public consultation process both as the Valletta Cruise Port, and also as part of the Malta Maritime Forum. “The news that there is a plan is welcome, but we need to understand how the infrastructure would be affected.”
Asked about challenges the Valletta Cruise Port currently faces, he said that the main one is space. “We lack operational space. The site is at the foot of the capital city just underneath the bastions, and the space between the quay and the bastions is a limiting factor which places many constraints on our operations. But having constraints also makes us more efficient in terms of how we operate.”
The port being able to manage the volume of passengers it does with such space restrictions is something the Valletta Cruise Port prides itself in, Xuereb added.
“We have a lot of support from the local authorities,” he said, specifically mentioning the Transport and Tourism ministries, and stressed that the presence of Transport Malta officials during operational days is key. “Without their assistance we wouldn’t be able to manage the traffic in an efficient manner.”
Asked about the passenger numbers and port calls in 2025, he said that they build on the momentum from 2024, “which itself surpassed the pre-pandemic high from 2019, reflecting Valletta’s sustained appeal as a Mediterranean hub”.
Looking ahead into this year, he said that the cruise port’s strategic priorities remain clear, which include strengthening strategic partnerships with cruise lines, enhancing the guest experience both on quay and ashore, balancing growth with environmental stewardship and service excellence.
Cruise port calls increasing
Xuereb said that the number of cruise port calls is increasing by around 20% this year, rising to 420 calls, “but the number of passengers will remain roughly the same. This means that we are increasing the frequency of luxury ships, which are lower capacity”.
With the influx of more luxury cruises, he said, “we are seeing more discerning guests looking for something more exclusive. For example, they might want a private concert for 60-70 people, or would want to have lunch in a private house, or go wine-tasting. These types of guests want to find something which is off the beaten track, so to speak, and we are receiving these requests from luxury cruise lines. Even when making reservations, they would ask if we could grant them a couple of dates when there wouldn’t be any big ships in port”.
Furthermore, cruise operators are strategically developing hybrid tiers that deliver exclusivity at scale within brands traditionally positioned in the mass market, effectively introducing a premium luxury layer to their offerings, he said.
In response to growing demand for high-service travel experiences, major operators have increasingly embraced a “ship-within-a-ship” model, he explained. “This approach enables cruise lines to provide elevated, more intimate environments without sacrificing the variety of amenities, entertainment and destination diversity that define large resort-style vessels. The concept bridges two historically distinct segments of the market: the vibrancy and diversity of large-scale cruising, and the personalised service with refined and exclusive accommodation typically associated with boutique luxury travel.”
Regarding the contribution of the cruise industry to Malta’s economy, Xuereb explained that total cruise-related expenditure in 2024 reached €124.4 million, which includes passenger spending ashore and cruise liner operational expenditure.
Beyond immediate financial contribution, he notes cruise tourism’s strategic value as a gateway market for Malta – 80% of cruise visitors in 2024 visited Malta for the first time, he said. “This shows that cruises serve as a powerful introduction to the destination.” He said that of the 20% who had previously visited Malta, 66% had first come by cruise.
He continued that 87% of visitors expressed interest in returning for a longer stay.
“Furthermore, nearly 90% of passengers rated Malta 8 out of 10 or higher when asked if they would recommend the destination to friends and family.” The cruise sector drives destination awareness, repeat visitation, word-of-mouth promotion, and long-term tourism growth, Xuereb said.
Regarding Malta’s tourism strategy, he said that the cruise port could be utilised more. “We are bringing around one million passengers right here, and if they are given a lasting impression in the 8-10 hours they are in the country, then that can lead to longer stays in the future. It is the perfect marketing ploy, giving cruise guests a good taste of the island and if you leave a long-lasting good impression, they will return.”
“It’s about having the right infrastructure, less waiting times at museums, in traffic, and so on. It’s about the overall experience. The experience we offer to guests is limited to the port, we cannot control the experience beyond our terminal. But its about how we can make the experience of cruise passengers, their one day on the island, worth their while.”
Younger travellers and the cruise season
When Xuereb started out in the sector around 22 years ago, the average age of cruise passengers worldwide was over 65. “Now its gone down to 45, which is a big change.”
He also said that over the past 10 years the cruise season has widened. The season used to last from May to September, but now we have winter cruising,” he said, adding that cruising generally now starts in March and continues until November.
A notable trend in cruising is the increasing share of first-time cruisers, he said, noting that according to the Cruise Lines International Association, 31% of passengers worldwide in the past two years were first-time cruise travellers.
He said that Malta’s location, in the middle of the Mediterranean, means that the country gets packaged with West and East Mediterranean cruises as well as Adriatic cruises.
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